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Antonio Cassano

Antonio Cassano (born July 12, 1982 in Bari) is an Italian footballer currently playing for Italian Serie A club U.C. Sampdoria and the Italian national team.

He is known for his short temper, as well as his ability, on the pitch, which led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in November 2002. The word is regularly used by Italian journalists as a euphemism of any behavior incompatible with team spirit in football.

Biography

Early career

Cassano was born the day after Italy's win over Germany in the 1982 FIFA World Cup final, and his father left the family shortly thereafter. He was raised in the Bari Vecchia neighborhood, and began playing football at an early age. Cassano was spotted by an A.S. Bari scout and brought up through the team's youth system, and he made his Serie A debut for Bari against local rivals U.S. Lecce in 1999.

A.S. Roma

At the age of nineteen, Cassano signed with reigning Serie A champions A.S. Roma in the summer of 2001 for a transfer fee of €28 million. His first season produced five goals, and he attracted media attention after openly clashing with coach Fabio Capello after he was left out of a practice match a few days after his international debut. In the 2003 Coppa Italia final against A.C. Milan, Cassano was sent off after protesting an official's decision, and he flashed the sign of the horns at the referee while leaving the pitch.

He was omitted from the squad during Roma's tumultuous 2004-05 campaign while Luigi Del Neri, Roma's third coach of the season (after Capello and Rudi Völler), was in charge. After Del Neri himself resigned during the season, his replacement, Bruno Conti, returned Cassano to the starting lineup. Cassano captained the team in the absence of incumbent Francesco Totti, who was serving a five-match suspension.

During the 2005-06 preseason, Cassano was in constant conflict with club management over the renewal of his contract, which was due to expire on June 30, 2006. In January 2006, he acrimoniously parted ways with Roma and signed with Real Madrid.

Real Madrid

Cassano became the second ever Italian player to sign for Real Madrid after former Roma teammate Christian Panucci. His debut came on January 18, 2006, in a Copa del Rey match against Real Betis, and scored his first goal just three minutes after entering the match in the second half. However, just four months into his tenure with the club, he began gaining weight due to poor eating habits, which resulted in Madrid fining him for every gram he remained over his playing weight.

On October 30, Madrid's official website announced that Cassano had been suspended due to his “disrespect” of Capello, who had joined the club at the beginning of the 2006-07 season, following a dressing room argument arising from his omission from the team after a game against Gimnastic de Tarragona, and was subsequently benched along with David Beckham and Ronaldo. In an interview with a Roman radio station, Cassano said he would "walk all the way back" to rejoin Roma, and indicated his eagerness to make peace with Totti, with whom Cassano had conflicted with before his departure from Roma. However, Cassano remained with Madrid after the January 2007 transfer window had closed, and the rest of his season was cut short by an ankle injury.

In an interview with Spanish radio in July 2007, Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon described Cassano's attitude as "unsustainable in the last couple of months" and indicated that he would be leaving the club. Cassano confirmed he had turned down an offer of nearly £3 million per season from EPL club Manchester City, and instead chose to return to Italy with U.C. Sampdoria.

U.C. Sampdoria

On August 13, 2007, Sampdoria took Cassano on a one year loan, agreeing to pay €1.2 million of his €4.2 million salary. He was presented to the fans five days later in front of 2,500 fans. In his first press conference with Sampdoria, Cassano said that since his first choice number of 18 was already taken by teammate Vladimir Koman, he had instead chosen the number 99 as a tribute to Ronaldo, who was wearing the same number with Milan at the time.

He made his Sampdoria debut in the Derby della Lanterna against Genoa C.F.C. on September 23, in which he was substituted by former Roma teammate Vincenzo Montella in the final minutes of the match. Cassano scored his first return goal to Serie A against Atalanta B.C. a week later in a 3-0 victory. He scored in three consecutive games in January, and helped end league leaders Internazionale's unbeaten league run with a goal in a 1-1 draw. However, Cassano was sent off in a 2-2 draw with Torino F.C. on March 2, 2008, which he compounded by hurling his jersey at the referee as he left the pitch, and was punished with a five-match ban. Sampdoria ended the season with a UEFA Cup berth, while Cassano was acquired on a permanent basis by the club on a free transfer from Madrid.

International career

Cassano has fifteen caps and three goals with Italy. His debut came in November 2003 against Poland, in which he scored his first goal. He was part of Italy's UEFA Euro 2004 squad as a reserve, but after Totti was suspended following a spitting incident with Christian Poulsen in a group match against Denmark, Cassano was inserted into the starting lineup for a 1-1 draw with Sweden in which he scored. He netted a last-minute winner in a 2-1 victory over Bulgaria, but Italy were eliminated in the group stage on goal difference.

Cassano was left off the final roster for the 2006 World Cup, but was called up for two Euro 2008 qualifying matches in September 2006. He was part of the final Euro 2008 roster and went scoreless in the tournament as Italy were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Spain.

Personal life

Cassano is currently dating 17-year old Carolina Marcialis, who is playing water polo at Diavolina Nervi. He has recently stated their relationship as the reason for him laying down his antics and settling down for love.

Career statistics

|- |1999-00||rowspan="2"|Bari||rowspan="2"|Serie A||21||3||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||21||3 |- |2000-01||27||3||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||27||3 |- |2001-02||rowspan="5"|Roma||rowspan="5"|Serie A||22||5||1||1||5||0||27||6 |- |2002-03||27||9||colspan="2"|-||11||4||38||13 |- |2003-04||33||14||colspan="2"|-||6||4||39||18 |- |2004-05||31||9||1||1||3||1||34||10 |- |2005-06||5||2||colspan="2"|-||2||1||7||3 |- |2005-06||rowspan="2"|Real Madrid||rowspan="2"|La Liga||12||1||colspan="2"|-||1||0||13||1 |- |2006-07||7||1||1||1||4||0||12||2 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Sampdoria||rowspan="2"|Serie A||22||10||2||0||1||0||25||10 |- |2008-09||||||||||||||||188||55||9||2||28||10||225||6719||2||1||1||5||0||25||3207||57||10||3||33||10||250||70 |}